TANK!
by footshooter
Summary: Y'know that moment we all fear? When the ground starts to shake and rubble starts falling and something roars? Well, it's happening to the L4D2 team right now... T for swearing.


"Aw, SHIT!" Ellis shouted as a building erupted in front of them, scattering rubble everywhere. There was a loud roar, and he started stepping backwards, shotgun held up towards the epicentre of the ground shaking. "Tank!"

"Oh man, where the hell they all coming from?" Rochelle said, as Ellis reached her – her gun held up too.

"I dunno, but I don't like it," Ellis said, shaking his head. "Not on bit."

There was another roar, and rubble the size of boulders flew towards them. Rochelle and Ellis dived out of the way in separate directions, and Coach stumbled backwards.

"Man, I don't wanna alarm no one, but I can't go down again here. I'll die."

Rochelle glanced back at him, "You go on inside. We can handle this shit."

The colour drained from Ellis' face, but gulped and nodded.

"Yeah, you do that, Coach. We'll be okay."  
>"I'm not sure about this…"<br>"I'm not having you die on us, Coach! We're already a man down."

The ground shook some more, and the roaring got louder.

"Yeah, where the hell is Nick, anyhow?"  
>"Oh, I dunno," Rochelle said, sniffing. "He always seems to vanish when the shit gets heavy."<p>

"Oh fuck," Ellis said, stepping back further. "Here it comes."  
>"COACH GET INSIDE!"<p>

Coach ran backwards as Ellis and Rochelle raised their weapons.

"Hey!"

They both glanced round to see Nick waving out of a door.

"I got a safe house over here if anyone's interested."

Rochelle and Ellis glanced at each other for a second, and then, simultaneously turned and ran for the building, trying their best not to be hit by the pieces of pavement the Tank was throwing at them. Nick vanished back inside, and as they skidded in through the doorway they saw him and Coach holding the safe-house door open for them and waving them in.

"Hurry up!" Coach shouted, and Rochelle screeched, "I'M FUCKING TRYING!" back at him.

The Tank hadn't managed to follow them through the doorway, and instead, frustrated, was running up and down outside the building trying to find a way in.

"C'mon man," Nick said. "He can't get in!"

"I wouldn't be counting on that," Ellis said, as he and Rochelle avoided debris and bits of dead zombie to cross the hall. "Why in the hell are these places so BIG?"  
>Rochelle laughed in spite of herself as she jumped over a chair, "I was just thinking the same thing, sweetie."<p>

There was a huge crash from behind them, and Nick's eyes widened. Ellis and Rochelle glanced back to see that the Tank had ripped half of the side of the building off, and was currently lining up a throw.

"Shit, shit, SHIT! Cunting, bollocks, SHIT!" Ellis shouted, and Nick shook his head.

"Save your breath, or you're dead, overalls."  
>"WATCH YOUR BACK!" Coach shouted, and Rochelle and Ellis both spread out as a huge lump of building was thrown their way. Rochelle ducked behind a table, and was spared, but Ellis got hit in the leg, and fell to the floor.<p>

Nick picked up his gun and left the relative safety of the doorframe.

"Rochelle, you run for that room alright? I'll get Ellis."  
>"No man, you're safe! Just leave me!"<br>"I'm not fucking leaving you, idiot!"

Nick reached Ellis, and started to pull him to his feet, his gun trained on the Tank – who at the minute was more interested in bounding towards Rochelle.

"SHELL! MOVE!" Ellis shouted, and she sprung to her feet, backing away and shooting the Tank as she did. Which just annoyed it further.

Then her weapon clicked, "Shit."

She pulled out two pistols and started using those, but the Tank was closing in on her.

"GUYS! YOU NEED TO MOVE! NOW!" Coach bellowed, picking up his own weapon and firing at the Tank, as Ellis did the same – being half carried towards the room by Nick.

"Oh, hell no," Nick said, looking to the hallway behind the safe house. Everyone else glanced up, and there was an almighty screech and the sound of feet. Hundreds of feet.

"Okay, up the pace guys!" Nick said, injecting himself with adrenaline and dragging Ellis into the room just as the first zombie reached them. He dropped Ellis and pulled out his machine gun, firing at the Tank as Rochelle still attempted to keep it at bay, with help from Coach.

Rochelle glanced at the hoard behind her, and realised they would reach the doorway before she did.

"I'm not gonna make it here guys. You close that door before they get there."  
>Ellis staggered to his feet, pulling a pipe bomb from his side.<p>

"Like hell. No one gets left behind."

Nick and Coach realised what he was gonna do, and started to fire at the Tank even more.

"Babe, you just run for this door. Ignore that big bastard right?" Nick said.  
>"WHAT?"<p>

"Just do it!" Coach said, and so Rochelle dropped her weapon, spun round and started to run.

The grenade flew over her head and right into the middle of the hoard, who all stopped, and started to congregate around it. The Tank kept on coming, but Rochelle ran in a zig-zag towards the door, and reached it just as the Tank's fist hit the ground and caused a crater. The boys pulled her in and slammed the door behind them, as an explosion to the left took out most of the hoard.

The Tank roared and slammed its fists into the ground and into the remaining zombies outside of the room in anger, and the survivors sunk to the ground in relief.

"That was close," Rochelle said, panting, and Ellis nodded.

"Tell me about it."

Nick was the only one left on his feet, and he looked at the others around him.

"You fuckers gonna heal, or what?" he asked, earning a glare from Rochelle and a smirk from Ellis as he threw the health packs at each of them, and they healed up.

"I think we should stay here tonight. I ain't had a proper meal or a good nights sleep anywhere safe for weeks!" Rochelle said, looking at the rations on the table.

"Looking out there," Ellis said from the doorway, "I'd be inclined to agree with ya."

Outside the door, as far as you could see, were zombies.

"Hundreds of the son's of bitches," Ellis said to Nick, shaking his head, and then moved off to climb up a ladder on the hunt for grenades.

"They definitely can't get in here, right?" Nick asked, and Coach opened one eye from where he was snoozing.

"Boy, if they could, you think that Tank would still be out there, tearing shit up rather than in here tearing us up?"

"Nah, I guess not."  
>"Man, he's <em>mad<em>," Rochelle said, before turning back to the food. "Now who wants dinner?"

"Me!" Ellis shouted down, and Rochelle looked up.

"What the hell you doing up there, Ellis?"

"Looking for firepower. I got a pipe bomb, some molotovs AND a load of sleeping bags up here."

"Nice one."  
>"And y'know what else there is, 'Shell?"<br>"Nah Ellis, on account of me not being up there, I don't."  
>"There's a fucking shower!"<p>

Rochelle squealed in the most girly way they'd seen.

"Oh man, you ain't kidding?"  
>"Nah, why would I?"<br>"Oh, best news all day!"

Ellis climbed back down the ladder, "Hey, I can handle dinner if you wanna go up there."  
>"Oh, really?"<br>"Yeah man, I'm pretty sure I can anyway."  
>"Oh, thanks!"<p>

Rochelle hugged Ellis and kissed him on the cheek before rushing up the ladder, leaving him slightly stunned. Nick laughed and Coach smirked as he shook his head and turned to the oven beside him. He regarded it with curiosity and poked a couple of buttons before standing up and looking around it.

"Man, why don' these things ever have instructions? They're all fucking different."  
>Nick laughed and shoved him out the way, before turning a dial and switching it on.<p>

"How the hell'd you do that?"  
>He raised an eyebrow, "Not everyone only cooks on open fires y'know."<p>

Ellis scowled, but Nick shoved him playfully in the side.

"Go on, go'n sit down and grab a beer, kid. I can do this."  
>"What, really?"<p>

"Yeah, you should probably rest anyway. And I'm sure none of us want food poisoning."

"Fuck you man, I cook well."

Nick smirked, "That's all well'n good, but you can't even switch the damn thing on."  
>"Well, it's different to them back home. And I'm tired. And fucking everything hurts."<p>

"Well, you shouldn't've shot that Witch in the back of the head then, should ya?"

"I swear that's how you kill them! She fucking splattered all over the place."  
>"Didn't make her go down though, did it?"<br>"I only did it coz you was about to get yourself killed."

"I was doing just fine, thanks."

"Yeah right. How comes you got that big scratch on your face, then?"  
>"Eh, I think you got worse, boy. Look at the state of your arms. I think 'Shells right when she says you need stitches on those."<br>Ellis looked down at the deep gouges on his arm and muttered something.

"Go'n clean your gun or find a crossbow to play with or somethin', kid," Nick said softly, and Ellis took a beer from the counter and wandered off over to his gun.

The sound of the shower switching on and Rochelle singing grabbed a couple of the zombies attention, and they started banging on the door.

"Alright, motherfuckers, you asked for it!" Ellis said, grabbing his shotgun and pulling up a seat beside the door.

Coach opened one eye again, and smiled at Nick who returned it as Ellis started shooting the faces that popped up in the window, and taking big gulps of beer in between shots.

"So much for a quiet night, eh?" Nick said, and Coach laughed.

"Hey, nothin's quiet round here no more."

Nick took a sip from the bottle in front of him and nodded.

"Ain't that the truth?"


End file.
